LOVE

So I want to talk about LOVE again in this post. It is one of the most important parts of the Christian walk. How many of us have lost it on the phone with a sales person trying to push something on you? Or gossiped about a friend? Or criticized the pastor… I could go on.

God’s kind of LOVE does not come from us. It comes from God in us. We have to choose God’s kind of LOVE.

First I want to say this, you do not have to perform for God to LOVE you! He loved you before you were born. Here are just a few scriptures that talk about His Love for us. Read them aloud and meditate on them.

In Zephaniah 3:17 it says, The Lord your God is in the midst of you, a Mighty One, a Savior [Who saves]! He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest [in silent satisfaction] and in His love He will be silent and make no mention [of past sins, or even recall them]; He will exult over you with singing.

and in Jeremiah 1:5 (MSG) it says “Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you.Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you:A prophet to the nations— that’s what I had in mind for you.”

Mandies version: “Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: A ______________ — that’s what I had in mind for you.” The blank is for you to fill in. God has a plan for everyone, will you choose His plan or yours, or satans?

1John 4: 9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

He knew you before you were shaped in the womb, He loved you so much that he sent His son, Jesus to die on the cross for your sins and to free you from the curse of the law (Deut 28). He rejoices over you! His LOVE will make no mention of your sin and He will exult over you with singing. Wow! He loves us more than we can imagine.

Receiving God’s love is a choice.

In the end you have to receive God’s love by choice.

Choice 1: Being indwelt by God’s LOVE. “If you want to be indwelt by God’s love, you need to personally agree with God that Jesus is indeed your Savior (read 4:15). “Confess” means literally to say the same thing as—to agree from the heart. To confess that Jesus is the Son of God is to tell God in your own words that you agree with him when he says that you need a Savior and that Jesus is that Savior…What matters is that you personally tell God that you agree with him that you need a Savior and that Jesus is your Savior.” – Gary DeLashmutt**

Choice 2: You trust in God by looking to God as your source of everything instead of the world. 1 John 4:16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

I was reading this blog today and felt I should share it with you. Seeking God first, should be our priority as Christian. Please take a couple of minutes to read Pastor Tim Burt’s post on Noah. Thank you.

You are blessed to be a blessing,
Mandie

Fresh Mannaby Pastor Tim Burt

I was recently reading about the story of Noah. It’s one of those stories that most everyone has been exposed to—even if they aren’t Bible readers. It’s a story that by God’s design, is supposed to create a sense of soberness and caution in our hearts. It’s also supposed to create a sense of urgency in our calling to help others know the Lord! Every time I read this to my children, and now to my grandchildren, that warning and urgency refills my heart!

In the story, God had told Noah that a great flood was coming that would destroy mankind—with the exception of Noah and his family. What was mankind like at that time that was so bad that God would bring this kind of judgment? It’s important to know because Jesus said that when He would return for us, that the spirit…

Strength in numbers — Whose Got Your Back?

Do you feel tired, overwhelmed… ? In the video below I talk about how I overcame in the battle.

Exodus 17:8-16New King James Version (NKJV)

Victory over the Amalekites

8 Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9 And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses built an altar and called its name, The-Lord-Is-My-Banner;[c]16 for he said, “Because the Lord has sworn: the Lordwill have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

It is so important to get our thinking right because it affect every part of our lives, in Romans 12:2 it says “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

How do we renew our mind and in turn change our life? We do it by reading, mediating, speaking out the Word of God. Start today by reading aloud Proverbs 23 and Romans 12.

Plant the Mustard Seed of Faith

Romans 10:17So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Deuteronomy 30:19 (NIV)19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live

Moving Mountains

Faith can move mountains; doubt can create them. – unknown

Some of the definitions of Faithin the World English Dictionary — n strong or unshakeable belief in something, esp without proof or evidence; Christianity–trust in God and in His actions and promises; any set of firmly held principles or beliefs.

Faith is your inner man or heart knowing and believing that the impossible is possible with God. Faith is not head knowledge. Yes, you need to start by reading and speaking the word of God to get the knowledge into you. Then through mediation, memorization, and speaking the word aloud comes enlightenment and Mountain Moving Faith. Take a couple minute to watch “Moving Mountains”.

Below are the verse I use in the video.

Matthew 17:20 (AMP)He said to them, Because of the littleness of your faith [that is, your lack of firmly relying trust]. For truly I say to you, if you have faith [that is living] like a grain of mustard seed, you can sayto this mountain, Move from here to yonder place, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

Mark 4:30-32 (AMP) And He said, With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use to illustrate and explain it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all seeds upon the earth; Yet after it is sown, it grows up and becomes the greatest of all garden herbs and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air are able to make nests and dwell in its shade.

1 Peter 2:24 (NKJV)…who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. Psalm 23:1 (NKJV) The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psalm 138:8 (NKJV) 8 The Lord will perfect that which concerns me;

Philippians 4:19 (NKJV) 19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),

Deuteronomy 28 (MSG) 1-6 If you listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, and heartily obey all his commandments that I command you today, God, your God, will place you on high, high above all the nations of the world. All these blessings will come down on you and spread out beyond you because you have responded to the Voice of God, your God:

7 God will defeat your enemies who attack you. They’ll come at you on one road and run away on seven roads.

8 God will order a blessing on your barns and workplaces; he’ll bless you in the land that God, your God, is giving you.9 God will form you as a people holy to him, just as he promised you, if you keep the commandments of God, your God, and live the way he has shown you.

10 All the peoples on Earth will see you living under the Name of God and hold you in respectful awe.

11-14 God will lavish you with good things: children from your womb, offspring from your animals, and crops from your land, the land that God promised your ancestors that he would give you. God will throw open the doors of his sky vaults and pour rain on your land on schedule and bless the work you take in hand. You will lend to many nations but you yourself won’t have to take out a loan. God will make you the head, not the tail; you’ll always be the top dog, never the bottom dog, as you obediently listen to and diligently keep the commands of God, your God, that I am commanding you today. Don’t swerve an inch to the right or left from the words that I command you today by going off following and worshiping other gods….

The rest of Duteronomy chapter 28 talks about the curse (which you should read because we are redeemed from it) but because Jesus died on the cross we are redeemed from the curse. As you received the gift of salvation you also need to receive His word as true in your heart. Once it is sown in to the ground in your heart then it will effect your mind and body. These promises are part of our covenant with God. (I will talk about the old and new covenants, also known as old and new testament, another time.)

1 John 5:5 (NKJV) Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

If you believe Jesus died and rose again. If you have asked Jesus to be your Lord and Saviour, then you are born of God! (Want to know more about this click here)

1 John 5:4(NKJV) For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

God wants us to learn how to triumph in life through what Jesus Christ did on the cross. But we need to want to seek a relationship with Him. We need to build our faith muscles, He needs us to look to Him as “Our Source” for everything. We need to believe that the impossible is possible with God.

2 Corinthians 2:14(NKJV)Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

Why, you ask? Because the world will see Jesus in us and want Him as their Source also.

John 14:12(NKJV) “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.

The next couple of posts will be focused in on growing roots in God deep and wide so we can be stable and strong in our in walk with God. The video below is the first part of a series of videos. Please take a few minutes to listen.

Remember this!

1 John 4 (KJV)…because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

So from the moment I heard this song on the radio, I want to write about it.

Who is writing the story upon your heart?

I know God is Good and that he want us all to reach our God Given Dreams, I know God has given us each a task or dream to live out, but as Terri Savelle Foy put it there is God’s Plan, Satan’s Plan, Your Plan. Which will one will you let write out your story. It is your choice! God give us a free will.

I choose Gods Plan, Story, Blessing …

This is my favourite part of the song.

I want my historyTo be Your legacyGo ahead and show this worldWhat You’ve done in meAnd when the music fadesI want my life to say…

What do want your history to be? I certainly I do not want mine to be “She sat on the couch and did nothing” or “she did even try to become her potential.”

Take a couple of minutes and listen to this song. I hope it blesses you like it blessed me! ~Mandie

Write Your Story

They say You’re the King of everything The One who taught the wind to sing The Source of the rhythm my heart keeps beatingThey say You can give the blind their sight And You can bring the dead to life You can be the hope my soul’s been seekin’I wanna tell You now that I believe it I wanna tell You now that I believe it I do, that You can make me new, ohI’m an empty page
I’m an open book
Write Your story on my heart
Come on and make Your mark

Author of my hope
Maker of the stars
Let me be Your work of art
Won’t You write Your story on my heart

Write Your story, write Your story
Come on and write Your story, write Your story
Won’t You write Your story on my heart

My life
I know it’s never really been mine
So do with it whatever You like
I don’t know what Your plan is
But I know it’s good, yeah

I wanna tell You now that I believe in
I wanna tell You now that I believe in
In You, so do what You do, oh

I’m an empty page
I’m an open book
Write Your story on my heart
Come on and make Your mark

Author of my hope
Maker of the stars
Let me be Your work of art
Won’t You write Your story on my heart

Write Your story, write Your story
Come on and write Your story, write Your story
Won’t You write Your story on my heart

I want my history
To be Your legacy
Go ahead and show this world
What You’ve done in me
And when the music fades
I want my life to say